City Council declares ‘Meek Mill Weekend’ to honor rapper's criminal justice reform work

Philadelphia’s City Council has officially declared this weekend "Meek Mill Weekend" in a resolution. The resolution honors the rapper, who grew up in North Philadelphia, for his work in reforming the criminal justice system.

Mill, whose legal name is Robert Williams, spent eight months in prison with five years of parole after he was convicted of drug and firearm possession in 2008. Mill became a symbol for criminal justice abuses almost a decade later when he was re-sentenced to two to four years in prison for minor probation violations in 2017, CBS Philly reported. 

The City Council resolution stated that since 2007, Mill had been "entrapped in the criminal justice system" as a result of technical violations of probation. 

“When I came home I was focused on really trying to give young kids like me a fair shot coming up in the system,” Williams said to 6 ABC Action News. 

His controversial arrest sparked the nationwide #FreeMeekMill movement, which aimed to end Mill’s sentence and reform the criminal justice system. In March 2018, thousands gathered at a rally in Irvine Auditorium. Mill has been a staunch critic of the criminal justice system since his release from prison in April 2018.

In January, Mill teamed up with Jay Z and other entertainment and business leaders to form the Reform Alliance, which aims to change probation and parole policies that trap people in the criminal justice system. 

The resolution also described Mill's philanthropic efforts, which include donating more than 60,000 bottles of water to residents of Flint, Mich. and organizing a toy giveaway for thousands of children at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Recreation Center in Philadelphia. 

During Meek Mill Weekend, Mill will hold two concerts at the Met Philadelphia on North Broad Street, 6 ABC Action News reported. Mill performed in the 2011 Spring Fling concert at Penn.